5 Quick Ways to Update Your Social Media Profiles

While social media sites are great for keeping in touch with friends, savvy women know that proper use can also give you a professional edge. The major sites (LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Google+) let you build a brand and establish yourself as an expert—if you’re smart about your profile. Here are five tips to take it up a notch.

1. Take advantage of your Facebook cover image.

You know that large horizontal image at the top of your Facebook profile? Make it a visual resume. Dan Schawbel, author of the personal-branding book Me2.0 and founder of Millennial Branding LLC, recently came across a cover image that was a professional timeline. He realized that this person had found “a way to make their profile more professional, convey what they’ve done and who they’ve worked for.” He deemed it “very effective.”

2. Consider your profile photo as part of your branding.

You want a high-quality professional image of course, but one creative idea, says LinkedIn spokesperson Lindsey Pollak, is to take your headshot “in context.” For instance, “if you work at a gallery, take your photo in front of a piece of artwork. If you work in sports management, take your picture in a football stadium. If you own your own business, take your photo in front of your company logo. That really stands out.”

If you have an unusual name, include a ‘common misspellings of my name’ section on your website.

3. Be searchable.

Keywords are vital. “Many people may be looking for someone like you (for instance, a recruiter on LinkedIn, or a journalist looking for sources on Facebook or Twitter), but they don’t know your name,” says Pollak. “If you’re a writer looking for freelance gigs on LinkedIn, you should use the word ‘writer’ in your profile headline somewhere. You can be more clever, of course, and call yourself a ‘wordsmith’ or ‘master of language,’ but make sure ‘writer’ is in there, too, because that’s what people will actually search on.” Another thing to include? Additional name spellings, if people misspell your name frequently. Pollak actually recommends including a “common misspellings of my name” section on your website and in profiles that give you a little extra space.

4. Embrace your multiple personalities.

On Twitter, people increasingly list the multiple hats they wear, separated by slashes or commas (“Accountant, runner, mom to Jonah, hospital volunteer”). It’s a quick way to establish a connection with someone who might be interested in you as, say, an accountant, but is even more interested after learning you’re a runner and a hospital volunteer.

5. Share great content.

It’s been true on social media since the beginning, and is “even more important today,” says Schawbel. If you want to be taken seriously, share valuable and interesting links, promote other people’s work, follow people in your industry, and be smart about what you post, “as it is a reflection of you,” he says. “I don’t see this changing anytime soon, even with new features.”